Tournées Film Festival: Modern French Films Cross the Atlantic

You’ve got pre-spring Indianapolis ennui. The weather’s not warm enough to go outside without a jacket yet. Your bike is rusting in a corner. You’ve seen all those Seinfeld re-runs on cable a hundred times over. You can hardly bear to get up in the morning because the prospect of facing another monotonous day in Central Indiana bores you back to sleep. Nothing seems fun, nothing seems worthwhile. When you’re in the grips of ennui, it takes something extraordinary to pull you out of your disdainful funk. The first week of April 2011 marks the first glimmering hope of spring in the Hoosier state, and with it comes a potential cure for that soul crushing ennui: the Tournées Film Festival at Marian University. This film festival, now entering its fourth year, showcases a variety of relatively new French films that can’t be seen anywhere else in the Circle City. Tournées brings everything from giddy stop motion to sober dramas to the Indianapolis screen, and you can see every film for free.
The first film in the Tournées Film Festival will be L’Ennemi Intime (Intimate Enemies), showing at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 5, 2011. Based on a 1992 non-fiction book called La Guerre Sans Nom by Patrick Rotman, L’Ennemi Intime focuses on the Algerian War for Independence in 1959, where the residents of the northern African country revolted against their French occupiers. A little more than ten years before, both sides were fighting together against the Nazis, hence the title of the movie. The film, released in 2007, follows two officers in the war, Lieutenant Terrien and Sergeant Dougnac; Terrien is a principled and by the book officer, while Dougnac leaves his morals at the door in order to do what’s necessary. L’Ennemi Intime presents an unflinching vision of the violence, contradiction, and turmoil of the Algerian War for Independence, a sobering parallel to today’s Middle Eastern revolutions. You can catch L’Ennemi Intime on Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. at the Mother Theresa Hackelmeier Memorial Library Auditorium at Marian University in downtown Indianapolis, where all the films will be shown.

Video of the British trailer for L’Ennemi Intime, a film showing at the Tournées Film Festival in Indianapolis

La Fille du RER (The Girl on the Train) is the second film that will be shown at the Tournées Film Festival. La Fille du RER was inspired by a 2004 incident (the “RER D Incident”) in a Paris subway station in which a young Jewish woman claimed to be assaulted by six “black and Arab” men; a claim which was later proved false. The film examines the psychology of victimization and French society through the lens of Jeanne, a twentysomething who begins dating a wrestler named Franck. Eventually, the real life events of the RER D incident come to the fore of the film, with director André Téchiné deliberately leaving Jeanne’s motivations ambiguous. Téchiné’s 18th film, La Fille du RER takes an unflinching look at anti-Semitism and racism in Paris. La Fille du RER will be showing on Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.

Video of the American trailer for La Fille du RER, a French film showing at the Tournées Film Festival in Indianapolis

After the gritty combat of L’Ennemi Intime and the sobering commentary of La Fille du RER, you’ll need something lighthearted to keep you from descending back into ennui. The third day of the Tournées Film Festival brings two films to Marian University, and the first should be colorful enough to pull you out of the muck. Panique au Village (A Village Called Panic) uses stop motion and a cast of over 1,500 plastic toys to create a joyous, energetic film that Indianapolis children and adults alike will love. Panique au Village follows the exploits of Horse, Cowboy, and Indian as they attempt to stop a mistaken shipment of 50 million bricks. Their adventure takes them to the center of the Earth, an underwater kingdom, and more as they fight over the top enemies and seek romance in unlikely places. The film debut of Stephane Auber and Vincent Patar, Panique au Village will be showing at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 9, 2011.

Video of the British trailer for Panique au Village, a film showing at the Tournées Film Festival in Indianapolis

The second film that will be showing on Saturday is La France, a film set during World War I. Though it’s a war movie, La France is an entirely different animal from L’Ennemi Intime. La France showcases all the horrors of war, sure, but it inexplicably turns into a riotous musical several times during the screenplay. La France stars Sylvie Testud as Camille, a soldier’s wife who disguises herself as a man to join a platoon, all so she can find her long lost husband. This bizarre film, released in 2007, is an outspoken critique of misguided nationalism and earned the Prix Jean Vigo award. La France will be showing on Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.

Video of the trailer for La France, a film showing at the Tournées Film Festival in Indianapolis

The Tournées Film Festival wraps up on Sunday, April 10, 2011 with the final film, C’est dur d’être aimé par des cons (It’s Hard Being Loved by Jerks). The only documentary at the Tournées Film Festival, C’est dur d’être aimé par des cons is concerned with the 2007 Paris trial of the French news weekly “Charlie Hebdo,” which had reprinted several cartoons depicting Mohammad that had originally been shown in a Danish newspaper. Muslim groups in France called the printing an assault on their religion (depicting Mohammad is forbidden in Islamic law), and “Charlie Hebdo” was put on trial. C’est dur d’être aimé par des cons follows the trial from inception to completion, with “Charlie Hebdo” granting director Daniel Leconte full access to the magazine’s managerial meetings. C’est dur d’être aimé par des cons will be showing on Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 2:00 p.m.

Video about C’est dur d’être aimé par des cons, a film showing at the Tournées Film Festival in Indianapolis

Sponsored by the French Ministry of International Affairs, the Centre Nacional de la Cinématographie, NUVO Newsweekly, and many others, the Tournées Film Festival gives Indianapolis people the chance to see several modern French films that they might not otherwise have. Starting today, Tuesday, April 5, 2011, the Tournées Film Festival will feature five films with a range of styles and content. From the Algerian War for Independence to media censorship, the Tournées Film Festival covers a variety of topics and is the perfect Indianapolis thing to do to combat pre-spring ennui. This Indianapolis event starts on Tuesday, April 5 and runs until Sunday, April 10, 2011 at Marian University’s Mother Theresa Hackelmeier Memorial Library Auditorium in downtown Indy. Tickets are absolutely free, though registration is requested by the Indianapolis school. To conquer the sluggish boredom that dominates your days, there’s nothing better than the engaging French films of the Tournées Film Festival.

Tournées Film FestivalTuesday, April 5 to Sunday, April 10, 2011
Tickets: FREEEvent Homepage